Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Optimism is low for Irish votes
A LAST ditch bid to win votes for Ireland to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup is expected to come up short today.
World Rugby are holding the vote in London at lunchtime.
A damaging independent technical report released the week before last put Ireland in third place behind South Africa and France.
The report came as a shock to IRFU chief Philip Brown and the Irish government after a €4m investment had made Ireland the bookies’ favourites.
Both Ireland and France wrote to World Rugby complaining about elements of the report and the conclusions made.
Since then there have been desperate efforts from Ireland’s bid party to persuade other nations to ignore the report.
And it is believed England, a Tier 1 nation with three votes, has been swayed in the IRFU’S favour.
However it is expected South Africa will host the tournament for the second time in its history when the votes are counted.